President of the Republic of Finland | |
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Suomen tasavallan presidentti (Finnish) Republiken Finlands president (Swedish) | |
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since 1 March 2024 | |
Executive branch of the Finnish Government Office of the President of Finland | |
Style |
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Type | Head of state |
Residence |
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Appointer | Direct election |
Term length | Six years, renewable once consecutively |
Inaugural holder | Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg |
Formation | 26 July 1919 |
Deputy | Prime Minister of Finland |
Salary | €160,000 annually[1] |
Website | President of the Republic of Finland |
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The president of the Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavallan presidentti; Swedish: republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024.[2]
The president is directly elected by universal suffrage for a term of six years. Since 1994, no president may be elected for more than two consecutive terms. The president must be a natural-born Finnish citizen. The presidential office was established in the Constitution Act of 1919. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the president, with the latter possessing only residual powers. Only formally, the president ranks first in the protocol, before the speaker of the parliament and the prime minister of Finland.[3]
Finland has, for most of its independence, had a semi-presidential system in which the president had much authority and power over both foreign and domestic policy, but constitutional amendments adopted in 1991, 2000 and 2012 reduced the president's powers and moved the country towards a more parliamentary system. The president still leads the nation's foreign politics in conjunction with the Government, and is the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Defence Forces.